Robert Sinclair Booth, Jr.

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Robert Sinclair Booth, Jr. was born in Hickory, N.C., on 25 January 1915. He attended the University of Maryland, College Park, Md., for three years, majoring in electrical engineering, and among his civilian jobs, worked as an ordinary seaman on ships of the Baltimore Mail and Isthmian Lines that visited ports in France, Germany, Egypt, Arabia, India, Malaya and South Africa. He enlisted in the naval reserve as an apprentice seaman at Washington, D.C., on 9 July 1940, and received training in the auxiliary (ex-battleship) Wyoming (AG 17) (15 July-9 August 1940), receiving an honorable discharge on 9 August 1940. The following day, Booth received an appointment as a midshipman in the naval reserve and reported for training duty at the Naval Reserve Midshipman's School at New York quartered on board Illinois (IX 15). He completed his training on 13 November 1940 and received his commission as an ensign in the naval reserve on the 14th. On 1 December 1940, Ens. Booth reported for duty in Arizona (BB 39). One year later, he was still serving in the battleship in her E [Engineering] Division, with his battle station in the after distribution room on the first platform deck. He was among the 1,177 killed on board when Japanese bombs sank Arizona during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

USS Booth (DE 170) (1943-1946) was the first ship named in his honor.